Young and unemployed? Remote work, not AI, may be the problem

Here is a summarized unordered list highlighting key points from the article:

– The study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York suggests that the rise of remote work since the pandemic has led to higher unemployment rates for young, inexperienced college graduates in occupations that can be performed remotely (referred to as “remotable” jobs).

– The unemployment rate among young college graduates in these remotable occupations rose by approximately 1 percentage point from 2017-2019 to 2022-2024.

– For older workers aged 29 and over in these remotable jobs, the unemployment rate actually declined slightly, resulting in a notable gap favoring older workers over younger graduates.

– In occupations that cannot be performed remotely (non-remotable jobs), the unemployment rate gap between younger and older college graduates is minimal.

– The study’s findings suggest that businesses are hesitant to hire new graduates into remote roles due to difficulties in providing effective on-the-job training and mentorship from a distance.

– It accounts for nearly two-thirds of the overall rise in the unemployment rate for young college graduates since the pandemic.

– The negative impact on young college graduate employment pre-dates the development and widespread use of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.

– Despite widespread concern about AI’s impact on white-collar jobs, the study concludes that AI’s impact on youth unemployment is relatively minor.

– Overall, the unemployment rate for college graduates aged 22 through 27 reached 5.8% in 2022-2025, which is the highest outside the pandemic since 2012.